Join us for the 32nd National Cowboy Poetry Gathering, January 25-30, 2016!

The artwork for our 2016 National Cowboy Poetry Gathering Posteris from a work called Comes Back, by Oglala Lakota artist Donald F. Montileaux.

The National Cowboy Poetry Gathering is an annual celebration of the ranching and rural West. Through poetry, music and stories, ranch people express the beauty and challenges of a life deeply connected to the earth and its bounty. Every year, thousands travel to rural Elko, Nevada, in the heart of winter, to learn and share. It's been called the most honest and open-hearted festival in America, but it is also a darned good time! At the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering, you can discover cowboy cultures from around the world, learn a traditional skill, dance the two-step, plan for the West's future with ranchers and conservationists, watch home-made films of rural life, meet new friends over a Buckaroo Brew, enjoy Basque food, listen to tall tales, dispel myths, build bridges and be inspired. Join us for an experience you will not soon forget! Use any of the links in our banner to read more about every aspect of the Gathering. Get up to date news and more on Facebook and Twitter.

For 2016, the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering finds inspiration in the flowing grasslands, vast open spaces and indigo skies of the Northern Plains. From the Rocky Mountains to the Dakotas, from the sandhills of Nebraska to the grasslands of Saskatchewan, this expansive land of prairie and woodlands is one of the top cattle producing regions in the world. It is famous for short summers and punishing winters, but also for hardy people, excellent cattle, and fine bucking horses and bronc riders. Join us in Elko, as ranchers, poets, musicians and artists from the Northern Plains share and celebrate this land of enveloping horizons and expansive hearts.

Shadd Piehl recites an original poem, "Over The Hills Like Horses," at the 2015 National Cowboy Poetry Gathering as Charis Thorsell and Paul Zarzyski share the stage in the Western Folklife Center's intimate G Three Bar Theater. This video was made possible with the generous support of Frontier Communications Corporation.

Are you planning your first Gathering? Tickets to the 32nd National Cowboy Poetry Gathering go on sale to Western Folklife Center members the day after Labor Day and to non-members one month later. To become a Western Folklife Center member or renew your membership, click here, or call us at 888-880-5885 ext. 222. Read more about what to expect at a Gathering, tickets, and planning your trip.